Electronic component distributor Avnet this week has kicked embattled French bank Crédit Agricole out of its asset-backed revolving credit facility, said Avnet’s CFO Ray Sadowski in an interview with CFO Journal.

“We asked them to step aside, because of their financial situation,” said Sadowski. He explained that Avnet pays a floating rate to each of the banks in the $750 million facility, which is secured by accounts receivables, and Credit Agricole would charge a higher rate than others, given its recent difficulties securing funds in dollars.

Even heavily indebted companies can take advantage of easier credit conditions if they take steps to lighten the load.

For example, Church & Dwight, a $2.6 billion consumer products company that competes with P&G and Colgate, is looking to re-price an unsecured $500 million revolving line of credit that it refinanced only last fall at 200 basis points over Libor. The company just shed its non-investment grade status, and thinks it can now get the revolver at only 50 bps over Libor.